Federal officials took some responsibility yesterday for widespread public anger over the distribution of swine flu vaccine.

“Whether we meant to or not, I think we led expectations of availability to be higher than they have been,” said Anne Schuchat (right), who heads the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “And so that, I think, can lead to frustration.”

Committee chairman Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said the CDC initially “estimated that almost half the U.S. population would be in a priority group to receive the vaccine. However, an advisory group also generated a secondary and more limited list of those who were most at risk in case vaccine availability fell short of what was planned.

“This is exactly what happened, but states, counties, and cities were allowed to target whatever population they chose for vaccination. This has led to understandable public frustration and anger, mixed with confusion over just who should get vaccinated…. I worry that we are undermining confidence, generally, in the public health system, and that people most at risk are not only not getting the vaccine but have stopped trying.”

Here it is mid-November, and the state health department’s Web site still doesn’t say which private health-care providers have received swine flu vaccine. See the “Vaccine Locations” section on this page? There’s no link — just the words “Coming Soon.”

Coming soon? Now that about 22 million people have gotten sick around the country and 3,900 have died?

The Dallas Morning News got tired of waiting for the state to provide data. So reporter Jeffrey Weiss wrote an open-records request for vaccine shipment information. What resulted is our own searchable database of providers in the Dallas area who are supposed to have the shots and mist. Check it out.

Do you have a tip about swine flu? The Department of State Health Services? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

Why is the RISD boss gone? What is the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas going to do with a priest who got in trouble as a stockbroker? Read Today’s Hot Links:

1. The Richardson school district is back in session today. And David Simmons (pictured at right) is being paid $300,000 not to be superintendent any more, as Dallas Morning News reporter Jeff Weiss explains. Why? School board members suggest that the payoff is the most efficient way to get rid of Simmons, who quit Aug. 3. And why did they want him out, given that the district has a balanced budget and four straight years of “recognized” status? They aren’t giving much of an explanation.

Let’s catch up on a couple of mind-bending education stories that you probably missed over the holiday weekend:

1. George Orwell would have appreciated this: Some students who failed the TAKS test are counted as passing for purposes of new school accountability rankings, Dallas Morning News reporters Holly Hacker and Jeffrey Weiss showed. Why? A formula predicts that these failers are likely to pass the next time. What if the prediction is wrong? No problem. The schools’ rankings don’t drop.

2. Charter schools are privately run, but we taxpayers finance them. So the government exercises fiscal oversight, right? Wrong, reports The Dallas Morning News‘ Matthew Haag. Onto that stage steps Imagine Schools, a nationwide charter school management company with a real estate program that some officials say hurts students. It’s planning to expand into McKinney next year. State officials OK’d the move despite concerns that Imagine lacked non-profit status.

Do you have a tip about school testing? Charter schools? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.